♪ >> president obama being joined on stage now, not just by his wife and his daughters, but by his vice president joe biden and his wife dr. biden. president obama giving a very big speech for this very big moment, as he wins his second term. this is the closest i have ever ard to an obama speech that's anything like his 2004 speech that brought him to national prominence for the first time. when he spoke boston at the john kerry nominating convention at the democratic party, that was the red states blue states united states speech, and this is the closest i've ever heard him give to something that was like that. it started with very big ideas, mentioning the idea of america being colonies freed from britain in the very first line. being very conciliatory in terms of the bigness of the contest that he's just been through.

thanking every american who participated in this election whether you had an obama sign or a romney sign. talking aboutto contact mitt romney looks forward to sitting down with him. applauding mitt romney's public service, mentioning his parents by name and talking about that family's tradition of public service and how that is something to be applauded. said these arguments that we have are a mark of our liberty. we want the same things for our kids and for our country. we want to be safe and respected and if we want our country to be safe and respected and admired around the world. notably the president mentioning tonight in a pointed way the destructive power of a warming planet. an issue that did not come up in the campaign, that he went out of his way to mention tonight. he also in a seeming referenced the long lines people waited in to vote tonight and then said by the way we need to fix that.

probably the most memorable line from tonight is essentially a paraphrase of john f. kennedy's famous line when he said -- president obama tonight said america is not about what can be done for us by by us. chris matthews? >> that's something i've been waiting for him to deal with. it's not a solo act. it's a leadership job. the job is to get other people involved. not just in election campaigning, butcountry. i have to tell you, i was put off by the fact he never mentioned bill clinton. i don't quite get it why he didn't chose who give the president who helped him get reelected some tribute here.mean he deserved it. i was with him yesterday in philadelphia with all the thousands of students. i was amazed. >> his second call after speaking with mitt romney was to president clinton personally. >> maybe that covers it maybe. >> i want to bring john alter into this conversation. john alter on site in terms of

the reach of the speech and the importance of it. sorry. >> it's one of those homes. you just want to hear the words. we have joe biden. there they are together. joe biden there with tpresident obama. looking at the scene, this is much larger than i was expecting to see in chicago. we were told it's not anything like grand freaking room. >> mccormick place is the place in chicago. they had more than the usual turnout there because it looks like you need a shoo-in to get in there. it's a big night in chicago. >> steve schmidt, you talked about not wanting to hear just conciliation in terms of the concession speech, but also wanting to hear that bringing the country together in the message tonight. did you hear it? >> i thought he gave a big

speech. he did a great job. he spoke as the president of the united states, not just the head of the democratic party, which he is also. i thought he was eloquent and he was very gracious to mitt romney, to his family and when he talked about and he went through piece. whether you held an obama sign a romney sign your vote counted, it mattered. i thought it was a big moment gracious moment. i thought it was a good speech tonight. >> i would say the only thing that touched me about the speech is him the debate itself and the argument not only something we ought to be proud that we have because people around the world die you something that your country thanks you for. if you weren't out there for me. the biggest political divide is not between democrats and republicans. it's between people who care and people who don't care. it's between people who participate and people who don't participate. all of us democrats and

republicans who care enough to participate and be here and work on it and vote. we are all on the same side and that's the country's side. that to me is something. that motivates me as person who covers politics as my living. it's the way i think about the most important moments of these nights. >> what strikes me is after all the president has put up with from the right wing and detractors and those who just can't stand him, he comes out and says we got work to do. together. he's so focused on moving the country forward. he said we ended a decade of war. the economy is recovering. we have a lot of work to do. he wants it from both parties. the guy is such ahe really is. he really wants the best for america. i've enjoyed watching joe biden here, almost giddy, like a kid in a reason why he is that way is because every interview joe biden did, he just emphasized what was at stake for this counted. this country.

the middle class and what this really meant for america's future. and so i think that he is really relishing the victory tonight. >> lawrence, what did you think? >> wife and mentioning his children and thanking them he then did thank what he called the best campaign team and volunteers inf politics. and i think he might just be right about his description of the team. this is amazing two-term accomplishment by that 's been an extraorwatch. i am not even slightly bothered by him not mentioning other people prominent politicians who helped out. mitt romney didn't do that either. mitt romney only one person by name in his campaign. both of themtuation. romney owned the loss and president obama owned the victory, deserves to own the victory. phone calls to bill clinton, things like that are the appropriate way to handle that. i'm glad there and ownvictory. >> i'm glad to see him go back to the biggest possible ideas that he ever brauglv onto the

national stage. for him to go back. he's not paraphrasing what he did in 2004 there, he is updating it for a man who has now been through a different kind of fire. there's a reason that brought him to national prominence because of the importance of that idea to an american public that's too used to being divided. it's bringing back that transformational opportunity and that's -- you don't -- it's hard to do that in the face of all the cynicism about it about who he was before. i want to bring jonathan alter in now. he's at obama which is a bit of pandemonium, we understand. jonathan in terms of what the president needed to do tonight and those adorable headphones and what the president was able to accomplish tonight. what is your perspective on this speech? >> there's been a lot of talk in the campaign race about america's exceptionalism. it was a republican talking point. and he addressed that tonight head on. he says what exceptional isgether as a people and that

includes not just rights which is a big part of the democratic agenda, but responsibilities. he responsibilities. i think he was talking about our responsibilities to each other. what we owe each other. and that's what the progressivism of the 20th century was about. woodrow wilson dwight eisenhower bought into this. the idea of a social contract,that we owe each other something. responsibility for one another. and when barack obama talks ab trajectory of american politics the way ronald reagan did,back to that 20 ltth century trajectory of us caring about each other once again, and i thought he conveyed that tonight. way he terms of the seeng the things we all want w all want great teachers for o kids. we all want america to be respected as well as strong. want all -- we want

safety. and even though we're aiming from different directions we will have to turn in order to get there. it is a transformationf message, yes? >> it is transformational. it is ultimately unifying. and i think that he recognizes thatdhe people do want a lot of the same things. we want to educate our kids. we want to compete internationally in a brutal competitive global economy. middle class not just allowing extremely successful to fend for themselves and get more success successfulat, but system around the top. there a classséhis campaign? absolutely. and it wasn't at the sub text level. it was right up there up the middle class got a real workout in this campaign. we haven't talked in explicit terms about the middle class in any campaign since t middle of the 20th ce>> and a pretty resounding

verdict on that. lutely. >> i don't know than alter, thank you very much. >> i may be the only one here not satisfied twy edied with that speech. not just the failure to -- i i was how hard he worked. he lost his for this guy. but the given any attention tonight. the president is the of whatever forging of relationship he has to do he ell thehey basically. as everybody pointed out tonight,stronger regulation of wall street. readdressing inequality and income through tax policy. real figstuff. dealing with industrl policy. and to save it. you don't sit down and watch bankruptcy. there's real policy aggressiveness here that's come about over the last several theit. and i didn't sense that header of a faction. it was him again alone. i tell you to go back toh: it. he did do a couple of that wer people to get par s pa toir this is a country that has proven it can do one thing create opportunity for a lot of a l ink he pulled it together as a democratic is p party. he that has to bring that party

to the table. as you pointed out with re senate seats, they've got a winning hand they'v zc terms of the table and say we'll give you stuff to get you aboard we're coming with our that's something that he' to have to do o we'reing to be stuck with fiscal clihese stupid thingsm involved with weakness. >> we've seen president obama. they were really universal health c and he's goingw8c9 to have to stepct the big three and get more money of the wealthiest americans. to be the first don't know that to draw theand. i think he's got to do i'm one of the first that and beyond at. but if he after and went partisan tonight,ed. >> i don't think it's partisan to point out the victories. i'm talkingbout saying the fortjz the high road. i romney as romney appeared to be to him. and let's not fo chris, he was gracious to don't act like he didn't have a loet of divisiveness we had to

get over in a that was gracious to tonight was gracious to bill clinton four years ago when a lot of people were angry at him forgiving bill clinton. he's the samegu it willd itself and all of us will expect it. >> how about the other democrats who w tonighl on[i this. here's why. i think the opposite of love is not hate iloce. x >> i'll give hcc credit. he was one of the few l but oft[ mouth ofabout it are afr he is sending out to talk on television. he has to build things done ch these big things still in front of us.

immigration reform and debt problems. >> he got ou on thompson for losing wisconsin, that's going him lookif he's goingr8 t congratulations tammy gb wisconsin. >> you congratulate youru support yournihtd with the other party. that could have been done s what you do intmeech. >> tonight he got the country's attention. it's fabuloutonight. but i would like to see a united solohat's wednesday. >> i keep waiting f waiting for four want to bring in michael robinson who have been very patient. michael steele were talking to you when the president came out in terms ofhat you were looking for tonight. >> i heard a presi relieved to me. he seemed relieved to have gotten past 6"this to have disappointed people. i thought he smed rieved andrated. by thetoken, i guess i'm on the opposite side of chris from terms of whether he should have been more democratic party centric. you know, the fact that

- he's got a loti of as he moves forward. and yes, you have t a there are times the during the first time when he did it from that didn't work out as well it might have. but he is going to have topeople. not just the officials he has to work he has to persuade a9:hk lot of the publ t around him and oppose him sort of entractable opposition that we've seen over the last little while. that wasn't it happened. it's not going to all evaporate tomo >> michael to the speech asi a republican, did you hear this president talking to you and talking about the country in a way omething oempb thing welcoming and conciliatory? i was struck by the last sentence of the paragraph referenced by lawrence earlier. whenresident was talking inging @ campaign has been fought if fought. it's or. you havenopartisanship, beyond the focus on

your job, that's going to be histo c ment of pulling the loose ends together. notmb fiving the otherctors, but subtle way that, yeah we know we sdx deal with some of this poli do that is recognize that yeah weis unite a team among democrats now. to go and sit down with mitch and with john boehner and the republican lead's business done. so i thinkunity the president has presented. the test will be whether or not once you get past the all the congratulations and we get between the election and the inauguration that the congress when it comes back seet the president, into a wall from that. s he did over the last four years. but really lean into it. lean forward and say we're not dolonger. the american people want us to

like it or not. al point, chris made a very good point feel like persuaded at all? >> no i really do believe that it takes more than one person. i think what's been missing in the last four a sense of collegiality and worki lot of different voices. when we return on sunday television we look for the candidates. we don't see them. staffers. where are the allies? it's a big country. it's it's 350 million people. we should be represented by a big grou people coming together as major forces. the reason we've been stuck in the mud on every single issue is because we don't have strong political confederacies of people working table and coming together and forging deals. we're doing a lot of good speeches. hundredth time. he didn't get ele time. he got elected because of policies.

and do things by either ex congress. he had to pull the congress together to get health care. he had to pull the congress together to get the stimulus package. they worked together and stuck their necks out. out. this is a politicalarty sticking its neck out. >> i have to interrupt you. >> these are all good things. but they're actions. they're not good speeches. >> sorry to interrupt you. >> i'm done. >> it's a call. nbc news p wow. also in the alaska nbc news will project winner is mitt romney. alaska is mitt romney. but in obama. that was too close to call for the entire night. but now virginia is going to the tstanding races in nevada and florida. i'm stunned by that virginia result. i knew we knew it was close. i knew chuck told us it was possible. >> yeah. you know who won the election? nate silver. with all those people telling him, oh this is crazy it's not

going to be this close. >> did you see prediction? through the roof. he may as well beat those tonight. >> one other thing is it's been a very very big night for women. we've got some amazing numbers out of the senate, even with a few senate races yet to be called. andparticular state amazon for lack of a better term. we'll have that and those details for you ahead when we come back. msnbc's live coverage of thential election night continues. 3v

obama winning a second term. we heard a greashs concession speech from mitt romney.=r we heard a long and victory speech from president obama, but the races being decided right now. i want to take you to the senate in terms of what's going on in the senate. we have three races in the senate still too close to call. the republican is shirley berkeley. and also in montana. call between tester. and denny rehberg.

the third>x is in north dakota. look at the difference in the vote total. so nevada montana, and north dakota, too close tocall. in terms of the senate, democratic pickup, in connecticut, india connecticut it's chris murphy.donlynelly. there is a for s a republican feat. and the independent an gus king will be picking up main republican pickup there was one previously held by ben nelson will now go to defeat inging democrat bob kerry. a lot of very close and very interesting. the repub pick. democrats got three pickups. still got three too close to call. when you look at the races that have been some big results. in wisconsin we have tommy thompson, four-term governor being defeated tammy the first time an openly gay

woman is elected to the united states senate. first time any none openly gay perte. in new mexico, a very seed. martin heinrich won thatmissouri i would have been difficult ts joshmente the first time we have discussed these races tonight. this was an unexpectedly tough race for a very blue stais. the senate at this hour the democrats with 51e republicans with 44 seats. a lot of people onto thet many projected they could increase themargins.tn in the stahampshire. hassan thenning. there's two congressional

districts. shea- shea-porter wins the first congressional district. in the other congressional district and new hampshire district two, look at this. kuster the democrat dez[featq ing the you pattern theyat that means is new hampshire, in terms of the twral office holderholders, we have a democraticmaggy maggy hassan. two dem congress and two u.s.s a 100%leadership in the great state hampshire. live free or die democratic woman governor in the country. >> oh god, that's the senate race is tonight. right noave the numbers wrong, but i think vk we have even before we get this settled, we have 19 women in the $ u.s. senate after tonight. ls, two women. 19. we're getting very ci al ball into the discussion.viously to havewomen servin

we have 19. we m still not nearde parody here. 05 previous high as 21 so high as you ioned, we're>j nowhere near gender we find when across the country, the numbers of women in office ten increase that's astatement. back in 2010 when country and has strong shows in legislatures in across the country, it waswomen had decreased in the number of seats demwell. we had a remarkable situation as you know a have been covering f issue in the el that also up in repuvc control and pushed the record 1,100 3eprovisions produced in 2011. historic ve iproportions. like virginia the ballot you had women issues playing a central r ran ate also ran for i took a look at his platf how much the framing of that issue has changed, the landscape hasin 2005

he led by saying i have aith based opposition to affirms his commient holding v. wade. owcrysng tol out of virginia. one of thehi ed in this naverning experience of the last couple of yea affected the wautrace. they think aboutlynt there. strong gender g virginia. ultimately virginia did go to the president tonight. r governor mcdonald.nia is my home state, so they try to pass legislation to require women seekingn transvaginal probe. even for a state that's sti state in virginia, ev quite blue to just totally over ied to bill, personhood legislation. yyig; this is lifehand.ly upset by it. this came up in sever that issue. and nativeor office in the state it was remarkablechoice pro message coing messageon the todd aiken and

murdoch lose in states might otherwise been able to win. >> f a late thanks for being with us. we've been doing a lot of specm ulating innd term for president obama might chn.te no that. reaction i think very senate mitch mcconnell.

õih[+ just a outstandinne is still president obam56aóa w jre-election. and handedly in the electoral college. lo at the popular vote right now.this is just 87% over a million vote3w popular vote. a lot o people who said he would win

thett romney would be winning in the popular at least with 87% inpp be the still two states that has to be called florida and nevada. approaching 300 electoral votes. it was hard to see that coming, should see this coming. i want to br the conferring now, which is a results from the top republican in the united states se.atbeen mitch mcconnell all night in terms of how important he is out if thingsly and frequently said that he thought the job senate republican should be to make presit. here isreacted tonight to tonight's results. amazing. amen peop:nle did two thave president obama a second the problems that even hes h solve during his first four years in office. the failur president's first term they just give him more time to finish the jobo do with the congress. solutio controlled house of respective reprentatives and a closely deliver in a way that he did office toc he wants to move to the political center which is where the work divided

government, we'll be there to alf way. and when that is behind reform the tax codetlement are eager to hear his proposals on these other pressingd to do the work the people sent us here to do. technically breaking down to what the american people did tonight, it was more than things. yes, they gave him a control in the house of repre you know what they gave aackn were there before.e didn't dwell o >> he didn't dwell he over that. chris hayes, i would like >> that was a cosmicallycconnell. he evening when they called him, i imagine mitch tv room i meanpp seen twoecutive races when he probably should have been der and thereeats the tea party and and gave to the democrats. >> chris, h ou're about state we could previously not characterize, nbc news projects that i president obama is the winners electoral pushing him i believe up over 300 ele point. this is start but almost shockingl of the presideial

results. we are still waiting in means. >> well look there outstanding races. there's dean berkeley in nevada. it will be interee the obama orgs can drag sh that state.eople exceed before in nevada.e the big takeaway from tonight in watching the senate is these are different lek electorates showing up i the elected barack backlash against barack obama that gave us the tea party and gavethe control of the bú stos i e leku@ torts show up in younger, less white,liberal. not reelected.hey're running the table or having a ry good night. also at the level in terms of ballot initiatives, in terms equality, is a different e that shoeç up in presidenttions. the big question for building a democraticbama and a leader democratic party is can you years? because then you're looking at>l something that looks like a really stable powerful permanent governing coalitipoliticians. >> chris hayes, thank you very smart

and structural point in terms of thinkin about how we decisions. we'r process of decisions. todd joining us with the g mitch mcconnell's motivation.cop for re-election in 2014. he i in aolitical vie script because some on the right would like to see mcconnell challevñnged in a primary. a lot of conservatives hch he hired rand paul's o ch in 2014. he also could be general election. not won man margins in kentucky. there's a couple of that pr nati able to raise against mitch mcconnell. mcconnell'sring anytdon't make me dhave to deal whouse. what i also found interesting is o is republican, head of the cam committee, he had ars much t abo the election than mitcháwn whate said tonight. idential race and a number of key senate races we the republican mean that is -- that is as mike murphy referred t mathematic the of9q the>> well chuck, you naive on my

part. if is worried s own)e skin? >> whocu to challen from probabr! added to his ranks with ted that is would be part of ot clearte on thatnk it's going to be interesting togs that frankly i was critical with him during the first year first leadership. we would mar and find five or six on his ow opening therst sixyear. i'm no spe there after the first sixs they're going to be ine why did they lose is it't will the presrb coaliti the republican ck with 54. he needs only s i think there's six or seven republicans out there. koshcorcoran, the tennessee guy, a the second term president does. >> i think it's progress thatty tha when earlier tonight we couldn't say that was going toent of. >> you got3ch point that only you are hearing a different tune from those n up for . re-election thebee we're already thin a quick back we're goinghe et and when he we might be finding

out about those. we'll be rightack. #%qfzzn:v$dp,>>e take a break f7>m

to tell you what decided races y call. in neda berkeley ve that race is tooda even aresidential level goes for president obama. l ; montana, jo 62% in.s too close to also do not have a ca er republican i point, too close to . is tslkenna, toupdate on profile hourict 18 in you can seeetweend allen a nationally famousican and a his r they would have otherwise been. interesting to there are still a few house to happen. ll his opponent use ev. word. e for quote him w1oord for rd. >>usly, i don't root for one side or ano$0ther in. just because tod. he won't be able to do it if he's in congress. >> you your so the headline is prident obama withe next big thi washington, chris? >> well just close my tonight. it takes a half a second. i am so proud country. because

of thepartisanship policies. he's an african-american guy with anbackgrou immigrant backgrounds on h part african-acan one.he from the c wns elec the way he tookh coolness and charm andniigan and doing his b,k the white vote. among democrats the last three cycles. good work for them. good work forod day we thatnk the storm was on rm brought in possibilities for good politics.msnbc's live coverage of the 2012 election aft roberts and then geist. glap u%1í=j